Losing weight or getting fitter is a hard journey to do by yourself. Some people are motivated internally, but for many others, healthy competition with friends can be the push they need to get going. These fitness challenge apps encourage you to compete with friends to lose weight, count steps, or exercise more.

1. Competish (Android, iOS): Lose Weight to Win Cash in Weekly Matches and Tournaments

Competish has a clear goal in mind: weight loss. Anyone can create a group and add friends or family to it. Each participant must contribute a certain amount of money, which goes into the group pot. The amount is up to the group creator to decide beforehand. You must also set how long the tournament will go on for.

Depending on the size of your group, every week, Competish will match you with a different participant. You must record your weight daily using fitness tracker apps or photos as proof. Every week's winner gets a small sum of the prize money. When you hit the overall deadline, the top weight loser (or losers) are rewarded with the remaining pot of prize money.

While you can play the game without money too, the idea behind the app is to incentivize weight loss with a clear reward. Competish believes that the competitive spirit required for such a tournament is sparked by prizes, not bragging rights.

Download: Competish for Android | iOS (Free)

2. BetterTogether (Android, iOS): Simple Weight Loss Competitions for Groups

BetterTogether is one of the most popular apps on the internet to conduct a weight loss tournament with your friends, family, or coworkers. Once you create a group, you can add unlimited participants, but the makers recommend a max group size of 15 members. The creator can set the duration of the competition and add a prize at the end of the challenge.

The weight loss goal is set in percentage. Each participant records their starting weight, based on which their goal weight is calculated through that percentage. Every week, participants must upload a photo of their weight while standing on a weighing scale. The app also syncs with Google Fit, Apple Watch, and Fitbit. The leaderboard shows everyone's progress, and you can talk with other members in the group chat.

BetterTogether's pro version includes several additional features to improve your weight loss journey. This includes a daily steps counter and goal (and a steps competition with other participants), a daily goal for floors climbed, reminders to drink water and tracking daily glasses, and motivational messages. BetterTogether Pro also has detailed charts to track your progress with different statistics such as weight, BMI, steps, etc.

Download: BetterTogether for Android | iOS (Free)

3. Compete2Beat (Android, iOS): Weight Loss and Steps Competitions in Private or Public

Compete2Beat offers two types of fitness challenges to compete in with other people: weight loss and steps counter. You can sync it with Google Fit, Apple Health, or Fitbit to sync your steps and weights or add it manually. The app works on the honor system, so while people can cheat, there's no real need to since there is no prize reward.

The challenge creator can set the goal type. Weight loss competitions have four types of goals: lose the most percentage, lose the most number of pounds or kilos, a group weight loss target, or an individual target where each challenger sets their goal. Steps counting competitions have goals of either a daily target number of steps or an overall number of steps taken during the duration of the challenge.

Challenges can be private or public, and you can join public competitions too. Compete2Beat doesn't display your weight to other competitors to protect your privacy, it'll only display your progress. The app also includes a food journal to track what you eat and translate it into calories, which is the building block of weight loss.

Download: Compete2Beat for Android | iOS (Free)

4. Outmuscle Me (Web): Create Exercise Challenges to Compete With Friends

Outmuscle Me has several different exercises that you can compete with your friends in, assigning different points weightage for each type of exercise

Outmuscle Me goes beyond the simple weight loss and step counting challenges to let you create complex exercise challenges. Currently, the exercise list includes steps, plank, sit up, squat, push up, dip, pull up, cycling, running, swimming, rowing, skipping, yoga, battle ropes, extensions, and jumping jacks. The challenge creator can select any or all of these exercises, and all participants can log their activity such as reps and sets, distance, or time.

Not all exercises are equal, of course. So each activity is given points, which can be customized by the group creator. For example, a situp might count as 0.4 points while a push-up would be a full point. When participants log their activity, they earn points that are then displayed on the group leaderboard. So even if you do different types of exercises, you can compete with your friends for overall fitness.

Outmuscle Me also includes a built-in workout tracker to log exercises, add any additional information, and see your activity streak. By the looks of it, there doesn't seem to be any limit on how many challenges you can create or how many people you can invite. In the settings, there is an option to add custom exercises, but when we tried it, we couldn't see the exercise in our dashboard later.

5. Challenge Accepted (Android, iOS): Create Custom Fitness Challenges With Friends

Challenge Accepted has several pre-made fitness challenges that you can adopt, or create your own to compete with friends
In a calendar-based challenge, you mark the days where you successfully completed the challenge aim, and hopefully build a streak
In a list-based challenge, you can write a list of objectives and tick them off as you do them

None of the aforementioned apps allow a lot of customization in how the fitness challenge with your friends will be constructed. Enter Challenge Accepted, a free app to create your own custom challenges (for fitness or otherwise) with complete control.

There are two types of challenges you can create: list-based or calendar based. A calendar-based challenge is usually like "go sugar-free for 30 days", and you mark each day that you have been successful. In a list-based challenge, the creator makes a list of the objectives of that challenge, and you tick them off as you complete them.

Challenge Accepted has a large variety of public challenges that you can join and compete in, but you won't see other participants. You'll need to add friends and can only track their progress once they start the same challenge as you. The app can send you reminders for different challenges on different days and times.

Download: Challenge Accepted for Android | iOS (Free)

Don't Let the Competitive Spirit Turn Nasty

Whichever app you choose to compete with your friends, make sure the competitive spirit doesn't turn sour. Everyone's aim is to have healthy competition, of course, but some people don't take losing well. If you're the group creator, be vigilant, nip such behavior in the bud, and encourage a supportive environment for all participants.